MEGADOG RETURNS!

Megadog, the pioneering psychedelic club-night that united varying techno tribes in the ‘90s, is returning to the scene. A special one-off Megadog will take place in Manchester on Saturday 21st November at Manchester Academy — the scene of 33 Megadog shows in the 1990s.

The likes of Orbital, Underworld, Aphex Twin, the Drum Club and Eat Static (above) played early live shows at Megadog. Bringing together various electronic music tribes at the time — techno, proto-trance, dub, drum & bass etc — under one roof, Megadog shows combined cutting-edge live electronic acts, DJs and circus acts, all illuminated by a psychedelic light show.

Starting out in a small pub in Finsbury Park, North London — the George Robey — decked out in camouflage netting, Megadog soon started putting on bigger all-night events at The Rocket on Holloway Road, Brixton Academy and further afield in cities like Manchester, Glasgow, Southampton and Cambridge — as well as in Japan.

The mixture of ravers, dreads, indie kids, squatters and hippies who would populate the events led to Megadog acquiring the ‘crustie techno’ tag from some sections of the media, but in truth it was one of the few club-nights without any sort of dress-code that would let anybody in.

Megadog went on to throw festivals such as the Megadog Beach Festival in St Austell, Cornwall in 1998 and Total Eclipse in 1999 with Orbital, Asian Dub Foundation and Roni Size’s Reprazent.

Other acts who played Megadog in their time included Carl Cox, Banco De Gaia, DJ Rap, Timeshard, Spooky, 808 State, Transglobal Underground, Speedy J, Renegade Soundwave and many more. Check out this video with a young Carl Cox and Megadog promoter Michael Dog talking about the event in 1995.

The Megadog show is to help Manchester Academy celebrate 25 years in the game. In its time at the heart of the Manchester music scene it has played host to David Bowie, Prince, Radiohead and The Prodigy — as well as many Megadog all-nighters.

This special Megadog reunion show features live sets from dub techno dons Dreadzone, Steve Hillage’s System 7 and cosmic psychedelia merchants Eat Static, with support from Michael Dog, Evolution and MC Teabag and others. Tickets here